The phrase “first principles thinking” probably comes from physics. It’s a powerful mental model. I first learned about it from Musk’s biography: to optimize Tesla’s battery costs, Musk broke the battery down to its basic elements, analyzed raw material prices directly, and cut costs that way. My whole understanding of first principles was just that simple — I had no idea how powerful it really is.
My understanding used to stop at breaking things down. But complete first-principles thinking is actually three steps:
- Break down: reduce things to their most basic components.
- Question: question each component — is it really necessary? What happens without it? Question every part, and whatever remains is the truth.
- Rebuild: starting from the remaining truths, rebuild the whole system.
Breaking down is only step one. The real power of first principles lies in questioning and rebuilding.
Once that clicked, I realized there might be an Eastern counterpart to first principles in traditional Chinese culture: the Tao. The Tao is the truth of the universe. Tao gives birth to One, One gives birth to Two, Two gives birth to Three, Three gives birth to all things. And the Tao Te Ching has another line: “In learning, you gain every day; in following the Tao, you lose every day.” Learning is addition; embodying the Tao is a process of continuous subtraction.
And finally, “act in accordance with nature” — don’t imitate others; rebuild from the most basic truths (the Tao), following the inherent patterns of things.
Isn’t that the Eastern expression of first principles?
Learning deals with knowledge — the known knowns. Following the Tao deals with wisdom, which requires stripping away everything that doesn’t belong to a thing’s nature, and seeing it as it truly is.
Take batteries: competitors all studied how to optimize supply chains and manufacturing — that’s the “learning” way.
Musk, on the other hand, followed the Tao: subtract the common belief that batteries just have to cost this much, subtract the industry-wide habit of buying finished products from suppliers, and you’re left with the market prices of a pile of basic elements. Turns out batteries were just that cheap all along.
Reading books is subtraction too. What stays with you from a book isn’t really memorized content — it becomes a few mental representations you can actually use.
The more you subtract, the purer what remains. Then, starting from the Tao and following nature, rebuild.